Geopolitical discrimination and institutional governance of strategic and critical minerals: Implications for Africa

Geopolitical discrimination is shaping the race for strategic and critical minerals (SCMs), particularly in Africa. Western governments energy security concerns are leading to the formation of exclusive alliances to secure SCMs while excluding China due to geopolitical tensions. This creates a dilemma for African nations, which possess vast mineral reserves but maintain strong economic ties across these geopolitical divides. The nature of transnational supply chains and important role of both western and eastern partners for African states, have resulted in complicated trading relationships. African governments face a choice: join geopolitical groupings in expectation of enhanced support on developmental ambitions around processing and industrialisation; or to maintain a‘non-aligned’ stance to maximise the benefits of diverse relationships. This article argues that the current economic incentives are insufficient for African states to limit their geopolitical alignments. Western financing is insufficient to guarantee supply security from African producers and doesn’t reflect commercial realities. Promises of developmental benefits and enhanced ESG criteria are often unsubstantiated or lack detail. As a result, African nations will likely continue to balance their international partnerships to benefit from extractive opportunities, while potentially missing out on longer term benefits of inclusion into deeper and higher value energy security partnerships.